As falls Victoria, so falls Victoria Falls.

 

 

Extremely brave kayakers tempt the edge of southern Africa's Victoria Falls which lies between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Memorial Day

 

 

 

The "EO." A car designed to test new techniques for linking cars into highway-riding trains.

HANOVER, Germany--The future of cars--or at least one possible future of cars--is on display here at CeBIT.
The Robotics Innovation Center at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is showing off an electric-car prototype designed to test new technologies.
For one thing, the car can lengthen itself and lower the profile of its podlike passenger compartment when it's time for fast driving, then shorten its wheelbase when it's time for tight-turning urban driving. For another, it can toe its tires in as much as 90 degrees, letting it rotate in place or drive sideways for painless parallel parking.
DFKI's EO has gull-wing doors designed to lift out of the way in cramped urban areas.
More dramatic, though, is that the car is designed to link up with an as-yet-unbuilt second model while both vehicles are being driven.
"The goal is coupling while in motion to demonstrate the validity of the concept," said project researcher Martin Schroer.
The prototype, called the EO, is hardly ready for the road. But it does embody an attempt to make a long-discussed driving idea a step closer to reality. Platoons or trains of cars on highways offer better energy efficiency and higher utilization of roads. The DFKI adds another perk to the list, Schroer said: power could be shared among the members of the train so those with low batteries could be recharged.
Of course, there are any number of obstacles in the way of that future--cultural resistance to the idea of giving up control to an automated driving system, for example. The DKFI is also focused on an autonomous control that would be used when it was time for cars to couple.
The researchers, who built the first prototype in 10 months, have plenty of other ideas besides building their second car. One is adding new components such as extensions for cargo or more than two passengers--to the modular design. Another is the ability to "walk" up a curb by lifting each wheel individually. Another is tilting the car as it corners to cut down on sideways forces on passengers.
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(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

 

 

Class Warfare / Marxism

Class Warfare:
A political and military conflict between economic classes. The idea is typically identified with Karl Marx, who characterized revolutions as conflicts between economic classes, when a new, growing class comes into conflict with an established upper class.
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Marxism:
Marxism is synonymous with Karl Marx, the man who along with Fredrich Engels is considered the father of communism. These two men wrote the Communist Manifesto, which laid out the idea of communism, which can really be considered a form of extreme socialism.
Other men, such as Vladimir Lenin, would read the works of Marx and be led to start revolutions and spread communism throughout the world.
In theory, communism could work. However, applied in real life, the dreams of Karl Marx would never fully materialize.
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Scholars have estimated that well over 100 million people have been  murdered by Communist regimes since the beginning  the twentieth century.
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Thank you Levon.

 

Levon Helm
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1940 - 2012

Terri Hill

 

 

Get more info on Designer: Hill Watercolors at   http://www.designerhill.com

 

TERRI HILL: I am a native of the Bay Area of Northern California, and have been producing colorful works for the last 33 years with my background in Graphic Design. I began painting in 2003, and have never looked back. I became a full-time painter on New Years Day, 2009.
My paintings are known for their rich, saturated color and unusual vantage point. Being a “healthy lifestyle enthusiast,” I paint what I love. You can see the influence of living in wonderful Northern California…it’s pretty obvious that I run, bike, and swim as well as enjoy the wonderful local fruits and vegetables and wines of the area. This area is such a perfect place to be as a painter...the good life is wonderful for creating great art!

 

Removed.

 

peace

 

 

 

Portsmouth, Ohio

photos by Max Hopkins

Environmental groups like Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club would have you believe the proposed Keystone XL pipe line would...

Above is a map of the existing XL pipeline and the proposed extension.
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The map above shows existing petroleum pipe lines currently in operation in North America.
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The map below shows existing natural gas pipelines currently in operation in North America.

Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club opposed the Keystone XL pipeline chiefly because of "climate change", but also because of the risk of oil spills. Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune called called the decision a victory for clean air and water and "another downpayment on the administration's plan to move our country beyond oil."

 Kim Huynh of the environmental group Friends of the Earth.
was happy with the Obama administration's decision. "The climate movement took on Goliath and won," she said.
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Environmental groups like Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club would have you believe the proposed XL pipe line would be a detriment to "un-pipe lined" North American landscape when if fact it would share space with natural gas and petroleum pipelines all ready in operation.
The Obama administration's decision to deny the permit to begin construction of the proposed Keystone XL petroleum pipeline extension  from Canada is purely a political decision and nothing more than another away  to secure votes at the expense of the American economy.
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S. Monkey

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2012/01/18/1868690/obama-rejects-oil-pipeline-from.html#storylink=cpy

quote

"I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know."

Thomas Jefferson on his spirituality and the Jeffersonian Bible
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Faces.

Loudspeakers for the rich and not so rich.

The Exquisite Extreme Grand* by Kharma Audio.
Around $280,000
Kharma Audio website - http://www.kharma.com/home/

Caruso* by Opera Loudspeakers
Around $35,000
Opera Loudspeakers website - http://www.operaloudspeakers.com/

The Imagine Mini* by PSB Speakers
Around $700.00
PSB Website - http://www.psbspeakers.com/

Capitalism.

God bless the soldier this Christmas.

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UNICORN "The Other Sparkley Meat"

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Brought to you by the N.U.P.C.
NATIONAL UNICORN PRODUCERS COUNCIL
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The N.U.P.C. has been endorsed by United States Senator- 
Harry Reid.

"I lay me down to bleed awhile but I will rise again to fight."

John Feinstein on the Army-Navy Football Game
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One of the questions I am frequently asked is: "If you could only go to one event in sports every year, which one would it be?" Most people expect my answer to be The Final Four or The Masters or perhaps Wimbledon or The World Series. I love each of those events and consider myself fortunate to have covered them often through the years. But the answer to the question is simple: Army-Navy.

There's just nothing like the Army-Navy football game. Not because of the quality of the football game, but because of the quality of the people playing the football game. And because of the quality of the people who have played in the game in the past.
The nature of Army-Navy is best summed up by a brief moment three years ago when President Bush conducted the coin toss just 10 weeks after the tragedies of 9-11. When he tossed the coin into the air, Navy captain Ed Malinowski made the call on behalf of his team: "Heads SIR!" he said, loud and clear for everyone in the packed stadium to hear. We all smiled at that moment because only at Army-Navy would you hear a future marine tell the President of the United States, "Heads SIR!" during the coin toss.


Almost every college football team likes to post some kind of inspirational message over the door of its locker room. Things like, "Winners never quit and quitters never win." As the players exit the locker room, they all reach up and touch the sign to remind themselves to try to live up to the words. More often than not, the message changes when the coach changes. But at Army, for as long as anyone can remember, the sign over the locker room door has been the same: "I lay me down to bleed awhile but I will rise again to fight."
Think about those words. In many way they sum up exactly what our country--regardless of how one feels about the war in Iraq--has done since 9-11. They also explain perfectly the mentality of those who play football at Army and Navy. Knock me down and I will get up. Knock me out and I will still get up. Kill me and others will rise to take my place. I may lose a battle, but I will never surrender.
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John Feinstein -> http://www.feinsteinonthebrink.com/

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Read John Feinstein's book "Army/Navy * A Civil War"
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Available at - http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-College-Footballs-Rivalry/dp/0316278246
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Obama hits the 2012 campaign trail with strong promises.

"If re-elected, I promise to turn bomber jet planes into butterflies above our nation. Those big birds flying across the sky will no longer be
throwing shadows on our eyes..."